Equipment for exercising the body, for fitness or for physical development, is shown in numerous different patents. Many of them involve moveable devices for specific fitness routines, with more or less resistance from springs or cylinders. These devices are often complex and costly. Shipping of such complex machines can be costly.
They usually occupy a relatively large footprint, and can often become disused due to the lack of variety of exercises available on them. They are usually capable of only one or two different exercise routines. Many of them require electrical power to operate the resistance devices, or the electronic displays.
Simpler forms of devices such as parallel bars are usually supported by being fixed to some building structure and have fixed proportions, and are suitable for only a few exercises
Other forms of equipment, usually based on a simple see-saw principle, provide for inverting the human body into an upside down position. This, while not being an exercise device as such, is thought to be beneficial to overall fitness.
To keep all these different pieces of equipment, in a confined area, such as a spare room in a home for example, or even to provide them, in sufficient numbers, in a commercial or institutional facility is often simply impractical.
Clearly it would be desirable to combine as many as possible of these and other various fitness exercise functions into a single piece of universal equipment. Preferably the device would be adaptable for use by persons of different age, and different height and different physique. The equipment should preferably be operable without the use of power accessories requiring electrical power for operation.
Ideally the equipment would be suitable for shipping as a kit in a knocked-down, compact condition, and yet be suitable for erection in a fitness facility or even by the buyer in his home.